Bell Ringer Nearly Gets Her Bell Rung

Ringing bells, it turns out, is not a job for the inexperienced. That's something Helen Springthorpe learned the hard way when things went... a bit wrong.

While trying to ring a bell in St. Nicholas' Church in Bathampton, UK, Springthorpe got tangled in the rope, banged her head against the wall, and then was pulled up into the rafters. It ultimately took twenty rescue personnel and raising the floor of the belltower before Springthorpe was removed from her tangle.

There was concern that she was seriously injured, but she turned out to just be bruised. According to her, she got little sympathy from her daughter: She "laughed very hard when I told her about it".